Anno Salutis
by yellowwords2187
Summary: After Breaking Dawn, about 278 years. In a pseudo-post-apocalyptic era, the Cullens are forced to reign in their memories of old modernity and pretend to mature with their human contemporaries. Rated "T" for now.


**Anno Salutis**

**Chapter 1: Modern History**

**

* * *

**

_Author's note: SPOILERS! So if you haven't read Breaking Dawn, prepare to be confused. This is kind of a background chapter, I'm trying my hand at science fiction, I guess. Review and let me know if it works so far!_

_Disclaimer: I made this up based on something someone else, namely Stephenie Meyer, made up, so I'm not pretending I made it up all on my own._

* * *

And so, here it was. Finally enough progress had been made in the new civilization for actual towns to develop. Towns, with neighborhoods and grocery stores and schools. Even some remnants of technology were being restored as governments grew stronger. True, nomads wandered through, and opposing groups attempted to usurp the Council (for so the group of 12 men and women had named themselves upon founding the Northwestern Coalition of United Peoples), but these terrorists were usually squashed quickly and quietly.

We, the Cullens, had been traveling the decidedly chaotic planet for nearly two centuries. In the mid-twenty-first century, the depletion of the planet's oil supply combined with the elevated seawall (for now only a fifth of the land that had been available to us during my early years as a vampire remained) had caused a period of panic: governments were overthrown; famines began; medicine and technology declined; the population was severely depleted, and those left were forced to compete over limited resources. Only a few stable governments remained during what my family and I referred to sardonically as "the Paradox Era" (for cannibalism had also become rampant during this time, and, considering our abstinence from feeding off human blood, we found simultaneously revolting and ironic).

Then, finally, about sixty years ago (what would have been 2281 according to the Roman Calendar, but was named the year A.S. -- anno salutis, the era of salvation -- 64), a semblance of order had seeped back into some groups. The Northwestern Coalition consisted of what used to be the northwestern U.S. and part of Canada, that which had not been covered by the rising Pacific. We Cullens had moved from the more stable government of Britain (which, though most of its original land had been drowned, had managed to take over all of western Europe and much of Asia during the time of crisis) back to the Americas in the name of protecting our identities. We were not able to live quite as secluded from the rest of our town as we had in the past, as people in these times became suspicious very easily; we did, however, manage to excuse our wealth (while currency had changed several times, we had managed to retain due to a certain member of our family being able to predict peak times to invest old bills for new coins) with Carlisle's remarkable medicinal remedies, which were still very rare even during the reemergence of technology.

Vampires had become mostly unmanageable through the chaos. The rising global temperatures, though they were beginning to decline (and Carlisle predicted we would enter a mini-ice age within the century), had forced human beings to become nocturnal, as night was at least 20 degrees cooler than day, and the blistering sun was deadly to them. This, naturally, had made times easy for nocturnal predators, particularly those with super-strength and immeasurable speed. The Volturi had attempted to repress the massive insurgencies, but with minimal success, as they themselves were facing rebellions and attempts to usurp their power. For us, though, the threat of the sun revealing our true natures was virtually eliminated, a blessing among many inconveniences.

Our family had changed little over the course of time; Jacob had, however, being little more than mortal, left us long ago, having refused to allow us to change him. Renesmee was devastated, and neither Edward nor I were convinced that she didn't remain so.

I stared out our glass walls down the hill into the neighborhood below. We had built the house in a location that the trees made us somewhat concealed from the rest of the quarter, but in such a way that it didn't seem we were attempting to be too private. The trees were gray and unremarkable; monkey grass had replaced the marshes, and the sky was colorless, with just a hint of angry red breaching the horizon at sunset. I dreaded night, when the town would come alive, and we would be forced to greet, to pretend, to conceal. I hated the language; it was English, but had been reduced in the name of efficiency, and it sounded like burps and throaty grunts. This placed more pressure on nonverbal communication, meaning the slightest discoloration in body language or expression could easily be interpreted as threatening.

And to a vampire, who moves ever so unnaturally (rightfully so, as it is an unnatural thing), this is the kiss of death. (So to speak).

"Thoughts?" Edward hummed in my ear, wrapping his arms around me from behind. He meant to ask me what I was thinking, and I immediately pushed my shield from me to indicate my impatience with the shortened phrasing.

He chuckled a little. "I'm sorry, love; it's a habit."

"_I know, Edward, but this shortcut-language doesn't mean anything to me. I thought we all agreed less communication was not ideal in this family?"_

"Of course, but only concerning subjects that could easily be misconstrued. It's not an entirely bad idea for you to practice your… er. Techno-English." He laughed again. "K?"

I hit him in the shoulder, and he massaged it mockingly. "You're impossible," I said angrily, and let my shield snap back into place. "Besides, I was the first one to notice the language was changing."

"But the last to master it."

I rolled my eyes and turned from him, but Edward, having always been faster than me, stopped me, and stilled my struggling arms as they thrashed from his grip. My newborn strength had long since waned, and I knew I couldn't fight him, so I stopped resisting in less than a second. Then, when his lips pressed to mine, I no longer wished to resist him. I inhaled, unnecessarily, shakily, when he pulled away. "You think that solves everything," I questioned more than stated.

He only chuckled and pulled me closer to him. "We still have an hour before the town, and our daughter, for that matter, awaken. We should probably prepare for our first appearance as villagers tomorrow."

I smiled slyly. "Yes, we probably should." He raised his eyebrow, suspicious of my sincerity, and I removed my shield again, allowing images that in no way resembled such preparation to slide across my consciousness. He laughed appreciatively and swept me into his arms, carrying me out of the common room.


End file.
